Volume 4: The Swiss Years: Writings 1912-1914
Page621(643 of 738)

DOC. 31 ON THE RELATIVITY PROBLEM 621 Published in Scientia 15 (1914): 337-348. Dated by Einstein's departure from Zurich, 21 March 1914, published 1 May 1914. Einstein finished the manuscript for the present paper before writing Einstein 1914e (Doc. 25), which he had completed ca. 20 January 1914 (see Einstein to Heinrich Zangger, ca. 20 January 1914 [Vol. 5, Doc. 507]). A French translation appeared in a supplement to the same volume, Scientia 15 (1914), pp. 139-150. A ten-page manuscript version of the paper [70 194] is preserved in the Schwadron collection, Einstein file no. 38 at Hebrew University and is almost identical to the published text, with the major exception of one paragraph that is omitted in the published version. This paragraph is provided in the fol- lowing notes, in which significant variations from the manuscript are also recorded. [1]See Brillouin 1913 and Abraham 1914a. Einstein commented on Abraham's criticism of his work on gravitation in a contemporary letter: "Abraham appreciates it the most. It is true that he rails vigorously against all kinds of relativity in 'Scientia,' but he does it intelligently" ("Das meiste Verständnis hat wohl Abraham dafür. Er schimpft zwar in der 'Scienza' kräftig über alle Relativität, aber mit Verstand." Einstein to Michele Besso, after 1 January 1914[Vol. 5, Doc. 499]). Abraham later published a pointed response to Einstein's paper (see Abraham 1914b). Einstein's controversy with Abraham in Scientia is summarized in Cattani and De Maria 1989, pp. 166-171. [2]In the manuscript after "begründet" the following passage is crossed out: "es ist von dem Verfasser dieser Zeilen in den letzten Jahren in seinen Umrissen entwickelt worden und." [3]While in late fall of 1913 Einstein seemed pleased that his colleagues were gradually gaining some understanding of his work on gravitation (see Einstein to Elsa Löwenthal, after 22 November 1913 [Vol. 5, Doc. 486]), a few months later he alluded to being criticized by prominent colleagues, such as Max Laue and Max Planck. See, e.g., his response to Gustav Mie, Einstein 1914e (Doc. 25), as well as Einstein to Michele Besso, after 1 January 1914(Vol. 5, Doc. 499); Einstein to Heinrich Zangger, ca. 20 January 1914 (Vol. 5, Doc. 507); and Einstein to Elsa Löwenthal, February 1914 (Vol. 5, Doc. 509). [4]See Minkowski 1909. [5]For earlier use of the comparison between the theory of relativity and the second law of thermodynamics, see Einstein et al. 1911 (Vol. 3, Doc. 18), p. VI. In his response Abraham criticized this comparison by pointing to the wider range of validity of the principles of ther- modynamics (see Abraham 1914b, p. 101). [6]In his rejoinder to Einstein's paper, Abraham insisted that this point was still controversial (see Abraham 1914b, p. 101). For a historical discussion of the experimental determination of the transversal and longitudinal mass of the electron, to which Einstein is referring here, see Miller 1981, §§12.4.4 and 12.4.5. [7]In the manuscript after "hervorgetreten" the following paragraph is deleted: "Die Rela- tivitätstheorie hat eine Aenderung der Mechanik mit sich gebracht; ist sie auch mit den Erfah- rungsthatsachen auf dem Gebiete der Gravitation vereinbar? Die Bewegungen der Himmels- körper sind derart langsam, dass uns die Erfahrung nur über die Kräfte belehrt." A similar line of thought, leading to the insight that Newton's theory is in effect a theory for the static gravitational field, is found in Einstein 1913c (Doc. 17), p. 1250. [8]The manuscript reads "das wichtigste Ergebnis" instead of "ein Ergebnis." [9]The manuscript reads "In neuester Zeit hat Eötvös gezeigt" instead of "Eötvös hat gezeigt." [10]See, e.g., Eötvös 1891. In the manuscript the figure 10-7 is given, the same as in Einstein 1914g (Doc. 16) and Einstein 1914l (Doc. 27). Eötvös's accuracy was 1 : 2 X 107. [11]See Langevin 1913 and Einstein 1912h (Doc. 8), p. 1062, fn. 1, for Einstein's reference to a personal communication by Langevin. For Einstein's earlier consultation with Wilhelm Wien on the possibility of testing the equality of inertial and gravitational mass for radioactive matter (before learning of Eötvös's work), see Einstein to Wilhelm Wien, 10 July 1912 (Vol. 5, Doc. 413). See also Illy 1989 for a historical discussion. [12]For a discussion of Abraham's theory of gravitation, see the editorial note, "Einstein on Gravitation and Relativity: The Static Field," pp. 124-127. [13]See Mie 1913, p. 63. For Einstein's earlier criticism of this consequence of Mie's theory, see Einstein et al. 1913 (Doc. 18), p. 1263. For a later account of Mie's theory, see Pauli 1921, sec. 64.